After retiring in 1991 from her position as Chief of Conservation Services for the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, Florian has devoted her time to research and writing – publishing several books related to the conservation of museum objects.

Keen to make her research more widely available, Florian approached UBC Library to make her new book available through its Open Collections. “I thank the University of British Columbia cIRcle Digital Repository for accepting my book. I am incredibly pleased the information will be available for anyone interested. An author could not wish anything more,” she said.

A comparative anatomy of tissues that were used historically in making ethnographic and archaeological artifacts, Florian hopes the book will be useful as a lab manual for teaching and reference for research, not only for ethnographic reasons, but also for many aspects of plant anatomy and identification and forestry.

“We are thrilled to provide open access to Mary-Lou’s latest book,” said Amber Saundry, Digital Repository Librarian at UBC Library, “In a short amount of time, we’ve seen strong use and interest in its specialized and unique information from conservators, curators, researchers and educators. We look forward to welcoming her future work to UBC Library via cIRcle and Open Collections“.

There is much excitement in the conservation community about the new-found accessibility of Florian’s research, “This book will be extremely useful for conservators and other collections professionals working with baskets, bark and other ethnographic materials,” says Eric Pourchot, Institutional Advancement Director at the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, “Thank you for making her research available.”

Anne Lama, UBC’s Library Conservator is thrilled to have access to Florian’s new book, especially after encountering Florian’s research so often during her studies in the restoration of books and paper and preventive conservation at the University Paris-Sorbonne as well as her work at the National Archives in Paris. “I am thrilled she is still publishing and sharing her findings,” said Lama.

Lama expects to use the book often in her work at UBC Library. “I will be able to learn a lot from this research and it will be an excellent reference when making recommendations about the conservations of objects in our collections”.

cIRcle, UBC’s open access digital repository for published and unpublished material produced by the UBC community and its partners was created to showcase and preserve intellectual output, and support teaching, learning, and research activities. Items in cIRcle are presented through UBC Library’s Open Collections, which provides additional features that increase the findability and promotion of research. Items can be found via search engines (such as Google) and have permanent URLs and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), so they can be discovered, accessed, and preserved long-term for future generations.